Occupational Benefits
by Tasermon's Partner
Summary: "Hiccup," Astrid bit her lip in anxiety, but then pressed onwards, "did you ever wonder…didn't they ever tell you, who it was, exactly, that took off your leg?" Hiccup stared at her, eyes wide as the truth dawned on him before she even confirmed it. "It was me. I did it. I'm the one who had to take off your leg."


AN: I take requests! Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome! Also, please point out any errors or grammatical mistakes I may have made!

I figured that I best post this before the second movie makes its debut and completely messes up any storyline ideas I have roaming around in my head. I was never really one for jumping on the "Hiccup-feels-bad-about-losing-his-leg" bandwagon, since I think the friendship he got in return, and knowing that he saved those friends' lives, was more than worth it, and apparently Hiccup always felt so too, since he seemed to shrug off the loss in the end of the movie and in the series.

Plenty of Vikings lose limbs' it's an occupational hazard, even if Hiccup isn't a typical Viking.

But I had always wondered, with Astrid being so proficient with an axe, what if she played a pivotal role in it all? And so, this story was born.

I hope that you all enjoy this!

* * *

"WHOO-HOO! YEAH!"

It was another perfect day on Berk…

"HEY ASTRID, BET YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!"

…true, it was spleen-numbingly cold, the food still tasted downright horrible, and it was a struggle to survive every time you so much stepped foot outside your house…

"WANNA BET, DRAGON BOY?!"

…but so long as there were dragons to carry you aloft with the wind beneath their wings…

"YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT; I'M THE _DRAGON_ BOY; AS IN, THE BOY WITH THE _FASTEST_ DRAGON! HAHA!"

"GRRR! WE'LL JUST SEE ABOUT _THAT_! FASTER STORMFLY!"

…then there would always be perfect days on Berk.

"NICE TRY ASTRID, BUT YOU CAN'T BEA-WHOAHHHHNOOOO!"

"OH NO! HICCUP!"

"ASTRIDDDddddd!"

"HANG ON!"

*CRASH*

*BANG*

*SNAP*

"UMPH!"

…But, of course, when your dragon was, for whatever reason, no longer able to hold themselves aloft, a perfectly wonderful day could just as easily turn into perfectly horrifying one in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Hiccup moaned in pain. He tried to open his eyes, but it took a while to find the energy to focus enough, and even then, it took a few moments for the fogginess and double-vision to clear.

Not that seeing double the amount of Astrid was a bad sight at all, mind you…

…wait…Astrid?!

"Ouch! Geez, that smarts!" he hissed as he shot up too quickly.

"Hey, take it easy will you?" Astrid whispered as she gently pushed him back against the pillow. "Why do you always have to push yourself so much? Your may act hard-headed, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, but let me assure you that your _actual_ head is _not _that hard!"

"Ugghhh, what happened?" he groaned. After the swirling and pounding in his head had faded to a more manageable level, he noticed that the bed he was laying in wasn't his own, and neither was the hut he was in, for that matter. "And where am I?"

"You're in Goethi's hut. One of your wounds got infected and you had a fever, so she insisted you recover here. She had to go down to the village, so I stayed here to watch after you, but it looks like the worst of it has passed now." She reached over to wet a small rag and place it on his forehead. "How much do you remember?"

"Umm, I was…flying on Toothless, I think. You and I were racing, and then…something...something hit Toothless and we…fell?"

"Like a sparrow."

"Nooo, I'm pretty sure we fell more like a rock. Ouch!" he hissed as she prodded him.

"No, I mean, the thing that hit you; it looked like a sparrow."

"What?! You can't be serious?"

She shrugged, "Pretty sure. Surprised me too, though. To think that the two of you have always been able to stay in the air despite battling dragons the size of mountains, deranged Vikings, and going up against every kind of calamity the Gods could throw at you, but that you would finally get taken down by one small, agile, defenseless bird. It's ironic in the extreme."

To help prove her point, she brought out a small brown-colored feather and placed it in Hiccup's lap. He picked it up to examine it.

"We found a small clump of these stuck between the connecting rods for Toothless' tailfin. The bird itself just kept on flying away afterwards. The feathers must have gummed up the controls so you weren't able to work them properly. Poor Toothless tried his best to cushion your fall through the branches, but-"

"Toothless?! H-How is he?! Is he okay?!"

"Don't worry, he's fine! In fact, if anything, he's probably injured himself more just trying to get up here and see you, than from when the two of you fell."

As if to emphasize her statement, there a was very distinct warbling heard from outside and down beneath the raised hut, followed by small amount of shaking that indicated one very particular overgrown-lizard was trying his best to claw and climb his way up the outside. He had probably recognized his rider's voice with his acute sense of hearing, and had realized that his friend was finally awake.

"Don't worry, bud!" Hiccup shouted out through the wall. "I'll be there in just a minute!"

The response was a roar of relived happiness.

"WHAT?!" Astrid gave a small roar of her own (which was most certainly _not _one of relief or happiness). "Oh no, you don't! You need to rest!"

"Aw, come on Astrid! You said the worst of it was over; just let me go down there for a moment to show him I'm okay. Otherwise, he really could hurt himself trying to get up here; or worse, he could accidentally collapse the hut, and with us in it!"

Goethi's hut was the highest in the village; literally. It had been built up on tall stilts so that the healer-slash-village elder would be closer to the Gods and more accurately be able to determine the weather and read the signs that were carried on the winds. Despite being placed on such a precarious perch, the hut had weathered all manner of storms, not to mention dragon attacks.

An overly protective, almost motherly, Night Fury on the other hand...

Astrid crossed her arms, and gave Hiccup a stern look, but when he gave her a pleading look in reply, she rolled her eyes and nodded reluctantly.

"Ugh, alright, fine, but just for a moment" she relented, muttering something under her breath about stubbornly pig-headed boys and their pet lizards, which Hiccup chose to ignore.

"Thanks! Now let me just get-" He made to get up, somewhat achingly, and reach for his prosthetic, but then belatedly noticed that it was leaning on the far wall on the other side of the room.

"I'll get it," said Astrid, who didn't even wait for him to ask.

She walked the few steps over to the artificial leg and then walked back.

"Thank you," he said as he held out his hands to take it.

However, to his surprise, Astrid moved down to his leg to strap it on.

"Let me do it," she said with care.

"But Astrid, you don't know how to…do...it?"

But before he could even finish the sentence, she had attached it with practiced ease, positioning it just right to fit the grooves and fastening all of the straps and buckles in the correct order effortlessly.

"Of course I can! I've done it plenty of times before, haven't I?"

"You have?!" Hiccup asked in shock. "Wh-When?!"

It was then Astrid's turn to give him a look of surprise.

"From…from the very start, of course! Didn't you know? I'm the one who made sure it fit properly so that you wouldn't be uncomfortable when you…woke up. And then there was that time you were struck by lightning, and when you and Toothless flew into that sea-stack, and then there was the incident with the Zippleback gas, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Even as a dragon rider, I can still be a hiccup sometimes."

"That's not what I meant!"

"I know," he sighed. "It's just that, all this time, I thought that it was Gobber or my Dad who...umm…"

"Well, Gobber measured and fitted it all. But you know how, err, ham-fisted he is; he could wrap his thumb around your whole leg! There was no way he could handle all those small buckles without messing them up. And your dad…"

"Oh…yeah…" Hiccup said, understanding entirely just from the downcast look on Astrid's face, "…my dad."

"I mean, I remember seeing him knock out Gronckles in one hit! He put Monstrous Nightmares in chokeholds without even blinking! I never thought the chief could be afraid of anything! But with your leg…he…he wouldn't even go near it."

The two sat in awkward silence for a moment before Hiccup drew up the courage to speak.

"Thank you," he whispered, "for helping out with all that. I guess I should also be thanking you for all those other times too. I just never knew."

"Hiccup," Astrid bit her lip in anxiety, but then pressed onwards, "did you ever wonder…didn't they ever tell you, who it was, exactly, that took off your leg?"

Hiccup stared at her, eyes wide as the truth dawned on him before she even confirmed it.

"It was me. I did it. I'm the one who had to take off your leg."

She turned so that she wouldn't have to look at his face, and yet, she was so familiar with his body by now, all of him, not just the leg, that she knew what his expression would be. She suddenly found that nervously twining her fingers through her hair was strangely enticing.

"Y-You?"

She nodded, "Toothless was still edgy about anybody with a weapon getting too close, especially since you were hurt and he was protecting you. He even roared at your dad, once there was an axe in his hand. I was the only one he would allow near. I guess he thought that if I was trustworthy enough to ride with you on his back, then…he knew that whatever I was up to, it must have been for your own good."

She didn't sound sad, or angry, or guilty about her confession. But Hiccup could tell she was waiting for his reaction.

He reached out, and gently took her hand in his, making her finally look at him.

"Then, I guess that I _really do_ have more to thank you for than I realized. Thank you Astrid, for being there for me when I needed it, even I didn't know it."

"Is…is that how you really feel about all this? Grateful?"

"Truthfully, I guess I'm a bit embarrassed that you had to go through all this just for me, but-"

"I didn't mind!"

"-if someone had to do it, then I'm glad that it was you."

She quirked an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, Toothless had it right, as usual; if there's anybody that I trust to do what is needed, especially if I'm not…awake for it, the person I trust most is you."

"And you feel…alright…about having to lose your leg?"

It was a question she had always wanted to ask, but until then, had never dared to.

"Eh, nothing to be upset about. Occupational hazard, you know?"

Astrid wanted to say something to convey her own gratitude, but she was always one for actions over words, so, with a smile growing across her face, she _swooped_ him up from the bed, helped him balance himself on the rickety floor, and held him up by placing his arm across her shoulders.

"Here, I'll help you get down the ladder."

"You know you don't have to? Just because of what happened with you and my leg doesn't mean you have to feel obligated to help me out."

"Eh, there's nothing to worry about. It's an occupational benefit, you know?" she said with a mischievous smile.

Hiccup chuckled, "What? Of being a Viking?"

"No, of being a very lucky girl, who's very grateful that she has such an amazing boy to look after and help whenever he needs it, alive and in one piece…well, mostly one piece…"

She gestured to his artificial leg, and they both burst out laughing.


End file.
